SHROPSHIRE CHARITY CONCERTS CIO
Charity Registration Number 1191258
ANNUAL REPORT AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2022
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SHROPSHIRE CHARITY CONCERTS
LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Trustees Mrs G Atkinson
Mr P Bisson (appointed 14 March 2022)
Mr J Davies
Mrs M Edwards-Clark
Mrs V Evans
Mrs E C Oxborrow-Cowan (resigned 9 May 2022)
Mr H Pearce CVO
Mrs M Ridland
Charity Number 1191258
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SHROPSHIRE CHARITY CONCERTS
CONTENT
Trustees’ Report Pages 4-6 Notes for the Accounts Page 7 Accounts Page 8
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SHROPSHIRE CHARITY CONCERTS
TRUSTEES’ REPORT
FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 AUGUST 2022
The trustees present their report and financial statements for the period ended 31 August 2021.
The trustees report has been prepared in accordance with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2019). The financial statements have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis.
Objectives and activities
The objects of the CIO are the study and practice of choral music in order to foster public knowledge and appreciation of such music by means of public performance; the advancement of music and other performing arts through public performance in order to foster public knowledge and appreciation of such arts; to assist and support such other charitable enterprises as the charity trustees shall from time to time determine.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
Performances are either free concerts, open to the public, or performances for which tickets are sold. Where we are able to generate significant surpluses of income over expenditure, we pursue a policy of making donations to local charities.
Achievements and performance
We have been delighted to resume rehearsals and concerts following the easing of restrictions imposed by the Covid 19 pandemic. Our first postpandemic performance took place in the Alington Hall, Shrewsbury School, on Saturday 13 November 2021, as part of the school’s St Cecilia weekend, when we sang Gabriel Faure’s beautiful Requiem. However, plans to resume our annual pre-Christmas performance of Handel’s
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Messiah in Shrewsbury Abbey were scuppered by the rapid spread of the Omikron variant of Covid in mid-December, which caused us to cancel the concert at the last minute. Undaunted, we eventually sang the Messiah to an appreciative audience in Shrewsbury Abbey on 26 February 2022. We held our final concert of the 2021/22 season in St Chad’s Church, Shrewsbury, on Friday 27 May, when we sang a varied programme of music in celebration of Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
We were sorry to bid farewell to our Music Director, Stephen Williams, following his decision to move on from Shrewsbury School to new pasture at the end of the academic year. While our association with Stephen has been a short one, further curtailed by Covid, we much enjoyed singing under his direction and were fortunate to be able to benefit from his skilled musicianship and many years’ experience of working with choirs. We wish him well for the future.
As Stephen’s successor we welcome Richard Stafford, who has joined Shrewsbury School as Deputy Director of Music and Head of Choral Music. Richard read music at Oriel College Oxford and completed a Masters in Musicology at Durham University. He taught at Brighton College before being appointed Director of Music at Ardingly College in 2016. Richard has wide experience as singer, conductor and instrumentalist and we are already enjoying singing under his direction. We shall be singing the Requiem by John Rutter under his baton at the St Cecilia weekend on 26 November, and Handel’s Messiah in Shrewsbury Abbey on Saturday 17 December.
We are fortunate to have Callum Alger as our accompanist, and are very grateful to him for travelling from Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury (where he also undertakes some teaching at Shrewsbury School) to keep us in tune every Monday in term time.
We were delighted to make charitable donations during the year totalling £4,000 to Take a Chance & Dance for Parkinson’s, the Team Cleo Fund, Shrewsbury Foodbank, and the Shrewsbury Ark (£1,000 each).
Financial review
During the period, the charity recorded a deficit of £7,563. There were a number of reasons for this: a one-off decision to reduce the termly fee to £10 in the autumn term 2021 in order to encourage members to return after Covid; a larger than usual accountancy fee because of the transition from the old to the new charity (new arrangements for the annual account will result in a substantial reduction in accountancy costs); an increase in the conductor’s and accompanist’s fees; and increases in costs related to the Messiah performance combined with a substantial reduction in ticket sales following the postponement of the performance from December 2021 to February 2022. This resulted in a closing cash
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balance of £17,432. We aim through careful budgeting to return to an annual surplus in future years.
The trustees seek to ensure there is prudent retention of funds within Bank Current Accounts to ensure long term plans for the future can be managed, and to that end they have adopted a policy of retaining a minimum bank balance of £6,000. This replaces the previous policy of keeping in the account a year’s running costs, which was judged by trustees as unnecessarily conservative, and makes it possible to donate a larger proportion of our surplus funds to charity.
The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
The trustees have also considered whether, in the light of the hiatus caused by Covid 19 and the consequent lack of income, the charity remains a going concern. They have concluded that, in the light of the level of reserves, the continued encouraging level of membership following the resumption of rehearsals, and the income from membership fees, it continues to be so.
Structure, governance and management
The trustees who served during the period and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
Mrs G Atkinson Mr P Bisson (appointed 14 March 2022) Mr J Davies Mrs M Edwards-Clark Mrs V Evans Mrs E C Oxborrow-Cowan (resigned 9 May 2022) Mr H Pearce CVO (Chairman) Mrs M Ridland
Under the new constitution a third of the trustees retire each year and are either re-elected or their successors elected at the Annual General Meeting.
The trustees’ report was approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on their behalf by
Howard J S Pearce Chairman
Dated 10 May 2023
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Shropshire Charity Concerts CIO Notes for the Accounts for the year Ended 31[st] August 2022
Previously Dyke Yaxley LLC prepared the financial reports for Shropshire Charity Concerts CIO.
This year the Trustees, mindful of increasing costs, asked me to assist with the financial reports for the Charity. The Charity Commission states that for any Charity with income of less than £25,000 there is no requirement for an independent review of the accounts. Many believe it is wise to have a review of the accounts but there is no requirement to use a chartered accountant. As many of you are aware I worked for Dyke Yaxley previously and I also served as Treasurer for the choir before I went to live in California. I am aware of how the choir operates and I feel I am qualified to assist with the review of the accounts as requested by the Trustees.
I was provided with the books and records and was able to check the accounts have been prepared in line with the Charity Commission rules and represent a true and accurate picture of the financial status of the Charity as at 31[st] August 2022.
I noted that there has been no gift aid receipts since 2020. The claim can be made up to 4 years from the year of receipt and Paul Bisson has said he will be dealing with this in the coming months. The accounts were
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produced using the cash accounts basis and show all receipts and payments made within the period. A payment in advance has been paid for the hire of the Abbey for December 2023 Messiah performance and Paul is awaiting confirmation that a deposit has also been made for the December 2022 Messiah Performance.
There are no liabilities as all known costs were paid before 31[st] August 2022. The assets of the choir are represented by the cash in bank figure of £17431.83. This has reduced over the last 2 years by some £14,000 from the balance of £3177.48 in 2020 .
The accounts show that the reserves built up prior to 2020 allowed the choir to continue donating to charities during the last two years, but with fewer subscriptions and increased costs for concerts, a suitable reserve should be retained for any planned events.
Elizabeth Oxborrow-Cowan was the Treasurer until March 2022 and then she handed over the responsibility to Paul Bisson. Paul has continued to maintain the books and records in a well organised and accurate manner, thus providing the Trustees with adequate information to steer the choir successfully into 2023.
Mrs Jacqueline Llewellyn
Annual Report and Unaudited Financial Statements Shropshire Charity Concerts CIO For the year ended 31 August 2022
| Account | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 201 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | ||||
| Income | ||||
| Bank transfers in | 0.00 | 25,537.26 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Choir Annual Subscriptions | 8,123.45 | 0.00 | 9,015.00 | 13,420.00 |
| Donations for Refreshments and social events | 100.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 180.67 |
| Easter Abbey Performance Tickets sales and | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4,058.25 |
| donations |
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| Folders and Scarves | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 | 79.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gift Aid | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3,686.64 | 0.00 |
| Messiah sponsorship | 0.00 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 390.00 |
| Messiah subscriptions and donations | 158.15 | 0.00 | 731.11 | 524.28 |
| Messiah ticket Sales | 3,125.00 | 0.00 | 6,022.66 | 6,394.00 |
| Other donations | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4,481.00 |
| Revenue collected for retirementgifts | 0.00 | 50.00 | 2,038.00 | 323.20 |
| Sales of scores to members | 170.82 | 0.00 | 2,510.50 | 1,556.44 |
| Scarves and folders sold | 28.00 | 0.00 | 20.00 | 19.50 |
| Social events' ticket sales | 1,560.00 | 0.00 | 1,425.00 | 0.00 |
| Summer Concert Ticket Sales and donations | 2,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 714.00 |
| Total Income | 15,265.42 | 25,587.2 | 25,556.9 | 32,140.3 |
| 6 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Less Expenses | ||||
| Audit & Accountancyfees | 1,800.00 | 1,020.00 | 588.00 | 570.00 |
| Bank Fees | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.50 |
| Bank transfers out | 0.00 | 25,446.76 | 90.50 | 0.00 |
| CharityDonations | 4,000.00 | 3,000.00 | 9,000.00 | 0.00 |
| Commitee refreshment expense | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.80 | 0.00 |
| Concert expenses | 941.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Conductor & Accompanist | 3,720.00 | 0.00 | 1,000.00 | 2,050.00 |
| Donations to Charities | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1,000.00 | 7,000.00 |
| Easter Passion Costs | 0.00 | 0.00 | 300.00 | 1,202.33 |
| General Expenses | 104.57 | 143.88 | 156.96 | 268.12 |
| Giftspurchased for members(retirement etc) | 188.85 | 2,171.22 | 115.50 | 300.00 |
| Insurance | 664.13 | 0.00 | 739.20 | 369.60 |
| IT Software and Consumables | 230.00 | 80.00 | 80.00 | 80.00 |
| Messiah costs | 6,517.63 | 200.00 | 1,916.09 | 1,453.95 |
| Messiah Soloists | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1,450.00 | 1,850.00 |
| Musicpurchase and hire | 360.75 | 0.00 | 2,299.90 | 1,912.84 |
| Postage,Freight & Courier | 15.01 | 7.50 | 31.72 | 19.06 |
| Printing& Stationery | 0.00 | 0.00 | 117.09 | 38.00 |
| Repairs & Maintenance | 0.00 | 300.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Social functions and Refreshments | 2,030.51 | 0.00 | 3,458.82 | 1,154.89 |
| Soloists andgeneral concert Expenses | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4,116.40 |
| Subscriptions | 0.00 | 0.00 | 215.88 | 0.00 |
| Summer Concert Expenses | 2,255.82 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 2,909.10 |
| Total Expenses | 22,828.97 | 32,369.3 | 22,565.4 | 25,306.7 |
| 6 | 6 | 9 | ||
| Surplus (Defcit) | (7,563.55 | (6,782.10 | 2,991.45 | 6,833. |
| ) | ) | 55 | ||
| Net Cash Movement | (7,563.55 | (6,782.10 | 2,991.45 | 6,833. |
| ) | ) | 55 | ||
| Summary | ||||
| OpeningBalance | 24,995.38 | 31,777.48 28,786.03 21,952.48 |
||
| Plus Net Cash Movement | (7,563.55) | (6,782.10) | 2,991.45 | 6,833.55 |
| Cash Balance | 17,431.83 | 24,995.38 31,777.48 28,786.03 |
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